Co-op boss awarded CBE in New Year's Honours

Chief executive of The Co-operative Group Peter Marks has been awarded a CBE for services to the retail trade. Mr Marks, who will retire this may following 45 years of service, has led the transformation of the Manchester headquartered organisation.

Chief executive of The Co-operative Group Peter Marks has been awarded a CBE for services to the retail trade.

Mr Marks, who will retire this may following 45 years of service, has led the transformation of the Manchester headquartered organisation.

Among his most recent achievements has been the successful bid to buy 632 branches from the Lloyds Banking Group, a merger of the Co-op's financial arm with Britannia and the acquisition of the Somerfield supermarket chain.

Mr Marks said: “This is a tremendous honour, not just for me personally, but for all my colleagues and directors of the group who have shared my vision and who have worked so hard for the success we have enjoyed in recent years.

“This business has been transformed, and, once the economic downturn is behind us, it is set to reap the rewards of the investment we have made.

“I would like to thank everyone who has been part of this, and who has helped to put the Co-operative Group back into the premier league of UK businesses.”

Len Wardle, chair of The Co-operative Group said: “On behalf of the group board I’d like to congratulate Peter on this honour, it is thoroughly deserved. In a career in the Co-operative Movement spanning 45 years, Peter has been unrelenting in his pursuit of both commercial and co-operative success in the businesses he has managed.

“Nowhere has this been more evident than at the Co-operative Group, where as group chief executive for the last five and half years he has transformed this business which has led, in large part, to the renaissance of the Co-operative sector in the UK. This honour is a fitting tribute to that legacy.”

Our newspapers include the flagship Manchester Evening News - Britain's largest circulating
regional daily with up to 130,485 copies - as well as 20 local weekly titles across Greater
Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire.

Free morning newspaper, The Metro, published every weekday, is also part of our portfolio,
delivering more than 200,000 readers in Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester Business Week is the region’s number one provider of business news andfeatures, targeting a bespoke business audience with 12,687 copies every Thursday.

Every month, M.E.N. Media’s print products reach 2.2 million adults, spanning from Accrington
in the north to Macclesfield in the south.